This text is part of the special International Solidarity section
Several Quebec NGOs are working to improve the rights of indigenous peoples abroad. They are busy doing it by financially supporting local organizations or by working in the field, always side by side with partners from the country.
Last September, a Guatemalan court sentenced a professor to 27 years in prison for repeated sexual abuse of a young indigenous teenager. It was the first sentence handed down against one of 22 teachers and employees of the country’s education ministry accused of sex crimes by so many indigenous women.
“This historic conviction caused a stir there,” notes Me Pascal Paradis, Managing Director of Lawyers Without Borders (ASF). She sent a strong message and sparked debate in the education system and within the government about the changes to be made to eliminate sexual abuse of Indigenous youth, unfortunately very common in the school system in several regions of the province. Guatemala. “
Since 2018, ASF has been collaborating on the DEMUJERES project, which aims to improve the access of indigenous girls and women to justice in Guatemala. “This involves strengthening the capacity of indigenous women to know, understand and exercise their rights themselves, but also to receive support, if necessary, from legal professionals capable of accompanying them with dignity before the courts. », Adds Me Paradise.
ASF has also supported for ten years the development of the feminist law firm of Me Lilian Vásquez. The latter today supports several of the 22 victims of sexual abuse who courageously fight for justice.
Changing things, however, is a long process. ASF, its local partners and indigenous women face several obstacles, including threats to their security, the inflexibility of networks concerned with protecting their privileges, corruption and the fragility of certain institutions, but also discrimination and racism.
It would be difficult not to forge links between this reality and our pronot always calm debates on systemic racism or the fate of the children of the First Peoples of Canada in residential schools for Indigenous people. “This shows that cooperation is not unidirectional, but rather multilateral,” recalls Mr.e Paradise. We all have to learn from each other. “
The very last ASF forum, which was held on November 3 and 4, also dealt with the theme of a different perspective on residential schools for Aboriginal people.
Claiming land in Cambodia
For its part, the NGO Development and Peace – the official international development agency of the Catholic Church in Canada – financially supports the Indigenous Community Support Organization (ICSO) in Cambodia. “We particularly like the approach of this group, which is not made up of indigenous people, but which works in close collaboration with them,” notes Micheline Lévesque, program manager for Asia.
Founded in 2007, the ICSO uses the CREDO method, which is based on a desire to settle in indigenous communities, to learn from them and to co-construct knowledge that will help these communities to name and claim their rights.
This method is used in particular in claims concerning title to the land of indigenous communities in Cambodia. This country has 24 indigenous peoples, who represent approximately 400,000 people, or between 2 and 3% of the national population. In 2001, the government adopted a law that recognizes collective property rights for these peoples, who had to wait until 2009 before directives were adopted to frame the claim of these rights.
“The chosen process involves 29 steps, shared between three different departments,” recounts Micheline Lévesque. This is a very difficult journey for indigenous people who often live in isolated communities and many of whom do not speak Khmer – the country’s official language. “
ICSO therefore engages with these communities in order to support them in claiming their property rights. If the result – the eventual recognition of these rights – remains important, so too is the process, for it produces effects that go beyond this claim. Indigenous communities must elect members to a committee to represent them. These committees often end up being called upon on all kinds of issues and they become a resource group. They sometimes create sub-committees, on themes such as youth or domestic violence.
“It motivates and mobilizes people,” specifies Micheline Lévesque. It is precisely because we value the process even more than the result that we support this cause of claiming title to property, even if it is a very long-term job. “